FEATURE
CREATIVE INDUSTRIES
Get into By Arron Moss, Co-Founder at MDOQ
Most are familiar with the term ‘getting into the zone’, coined as ‘flow’ by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, a Hungarian- American Psychologist in 1975. Csikszentmihalyi is responsible for a great progression in
our understanding of flow and, in the 1970s, surveyed people around the world asking about the times in their life when they felt and performed their best. Originally focusing on people at the top of their profession, predominantly in sports and creative industries, this century the focus has shifted to business. Today, flow is becoming a key subject in forward-
thinking business culture for both creativity and innovation. Long understood to be the key to ultimate human performance in world-class sports and athletics, thanks to neurological technology advancements, it is becoming a proven tool in driving forward many aspects of our lives. A ten-year McKinsey and Co. study on flow and
productivity found that top executives were 500% more productive when in flow. In one form or another, the profound increase in brain processing power induced by flow state improves our ability for creative thinking regardless of occupation. The key is understanding this mind-set and how to find
our own triggers to stepping into this peak performance as often as possible.
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE CREATIVE? It’s wrong to think that creativity exists only in arts and cultures. Break it down and regardless of vocation, to think creatively is to think new – to coin the Apple strapline, to ‘Think Different’. This raw neurological ability is not unlike any other skill,
it needs practice and, like physical training, it requires practice and continued efforts to improve your ability. The thing that separates us from those in the top one per cent world-class in their field, is flow; their ability to harness this ability to effectively fit a turbo to your brain and develop your passion 500% faster than your peers. It could therefore be argued that true creativity exists in
all areas and a linking facet is flow. Everyone can find flow by following their passion.
• Entrepreneurs – passion to create successful businesses, finding flow by facing and solving business challenges, unlocking peak-performance thinking to yield more successful companies
• Sports – coupled with peak physical performance, the ability to act and react quickly is what sets our world- class sportsmen and women apart. Red Bull has been helping bring this science to the wider public understanding
82 business network March 2020
• Musicians – multiple studies have proven the correlation between high quality performances and flow state experiences
Neuroscientists are bringing forth more and more evidence connecting flow to creativity in many professions whether you are a brain surgeon, a Michelin-starred chef, a classical pianist or an artist.
TOP TIPS FOR CREATING YOUR OWN FLOW If you work in the creative industry it’s entirely possible for you to be working in a chaotic work environment where things are fast moving, interruptions are common and stress is just part of your working day. Here are a few tips to try to adapt and find flow as much as possible:
• Box your time off – agree with peers when you are happy to be interrupted and use only this time for calls, emails, discussions, meetings. This might only leave two or three hours in the afternoon but that’s a start
• Close applications which have the ability to interrupt - Slack, email, WhatsApp – put your phone and mobiles into Do Not Disturb
• Try and get some support from your peers or seniors on a level of autonomy. Drive your motivation by taking ownership of your tasks
Many forward-thinking organisations attempt to bake
into their culture the necessary items to support this. This is the reason Google introduced the ‘20 per cent time’, it was effectively to assist with flow, you are never more motivated - and likely to enter flow state - than when you have that perfect balance and drive to succeed in the challenge you have set yourself. Here at ZERO-1, flow was something we used as a cultural
anchor several years ago and everything since has been built or developed with the idea to harvest our ability to enter flow as much as possible. That usually involves giving staff more autonomy and also ensuring we can invest in automation through all aspects of the business continually. After all, who wouldn’t want 500% more productivity while also creating a happier, more fulfilling workplace?
‘The profound increase in brain processing power induced by flow state improves our ability for creative thinking regardless of occupation’
the groove - the creative mind-set for success
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